De Korenwolf, de witte neushoorn maar ook de klinisch onderzoeker

Als u enigszins het ecologisch nieuws van de afgelopen jaren heeft gevolgd, dan zal de titel van mijn verhaal u duidelijk maken dat het hier gaat om zeldzaamheden. Immers, de korenwolf ofwel de cricetus cricetus is ongeveer 25/30 cm groot. Er is nog een andere korenwolf soort die circa 5 cm breed is en krap 20 cm hoog. Deze zogenaamde cricetus gulpenensis, oftewel de Gulpener Korenwolf is echter een meergranen luxe witbier van hoge gisting. De hamsterachtige korenwolf waar ik het over wil hebben heeft een zwarte buik, wat, en dat moet u maar van mij aannemen, erg opvallend is. Bij de meeste hamsters is de onderkant van het lichaam namelijk juist lichter dan de rug. De korenwolf komt voor in Midden-, Zuid-, en West-Europa. In Nederland komt hij alleen in Zuid-Limburg voor. Het aantal korenwolfen daalt echter en daarom zijn er allerlei groepen actief geweest om het leven van de korenwolf weer makkelijker te maken in Zuid-Limburg. De korenwolf graaft veel en leeft in grote holenstelsels, daarom is het belangrijk dat de bodem van zijn omgeving vruchtbaar, droog en matig hard is. Doordat de korenwolf zo zeldzaam is geworden de laatste jaren, zijn er veel acties geweest. Zo hielpen o.a. Natuurmonumenten, Vereniging Das en Boom en Staatsbosbeheer de Korenwolf. In mei 1999 waren er zelfs maar (vermoedelijk) 3 korenwolfen over, maar vooral de vereniging Das en Boom is met een succesvol fokprogramma bezig het aantal weer uit te breiden.Rede, In verkorte vorm uitgesproken ter gelegenheid van het aanvaarden van het ambt van hoogleraar Inwendige geneeskunde en in het bijzonder de endocrinologie aan het Erasmus MC, faculteit van de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam op 15 september 200

The role of sister chromatid cohesion in cohesinopathies, DNA damage response and carcinogenesis

Joenje, H. [Promotor]Winter, J.P. de [Copromotor

Hearing disability in patients with Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy: unrecognized co-pathology?

To investigate a possible association between Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) and hearing disability. A cross-sectional observational study was performed at the University Medical Center Utrecht. Cases and controls were patients who were treated by a cornea specialist between 2004 and 2008. FECD patients had either already undergone or were planned for a keratoplasty procedure. All controls were patients treated for cataract without any corneal pathology. Cases and controls were matched by age group and gender. A structured telephone interview combined with a validated self-perceived hearing function test (the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly, screening version; HHIE-S) was used for data collection. Hearing disability was reported in 33 patients (45.8%) in the FECD-group (n = 72, average age: 73 years) versus 50 patients (34.7%) in the control group (n = 144, average age: 73 years). Hearing disability was significantly associated with FECD after adjustment for age, noise exposure, and diabetes mellitus (odds ratio 1.97 95% confidence interval 1.04-3.75). This case-control study reports a significant association between FECD and hearing disability. The causal relation was not evaluated in this study, though mutations in the SLC4A11 gene could have played an important role. This gene encodes for an ion transporter, which has been found in the cornea and inner ear. With the lack of examination with a pure tone or speech audiometry in this study, further studies need to be performed in order to support the association and should include a complete ENT examination with audiometry and genetic researc

Aspects of medical therapy of neuroendocrine disorders

Treatment of pituitary diseases bas changed considerably over the last 35 years. Apart from the introduction of transspbenoidal surgery the development of dopaminergic drugs, as well as of the somatostatin analog octreotide have been major steps forward towards the control of the growth and hormonal byperproduction by pituitary adenomas. The improved understanding of the interaction between hormones and their receptors, the knowledge about hypothalamic releasing factors and hormones, as well as the development of RIA- and ELISA techniques for the measurement of circulating hormone and growth factor levels have also contributed to this progress in treatment. This thesis is dealing with some aspects of the medical treatment of neuroendocrine disorder

A visualization of the damage in Lead Tungstate calorimeter crystals after exposure to high-energy hadrons

The anticipated performance of calorimeter crystals in the environment expected after the planned High-Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN has to be well understood, before informed decisions can be made on the need for detector upgrades. Throughout the years of running at the HL-LHC, the detectors will be exposed to considerable fluences of fast hadrons, that have been shown to cause cumulative transparency losses in Lead Tungstate scintillating crystals. In this study, we present direct evidence of the main underlying damage mechanism. Results are shown from a test that yields a direct insight into the nature of the hadron-specific damage in Lead Tungstate calorimeter crystals exposed to 24 GeV/c protons.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Multi-proxy isotopic tracing of magmatic sources and crustal recycling in the Palaeozoic to Early Jurassic active margin of North-Western Gondwana

We trace source variations of active margin granitoids which crystallised intermittently over ~300 Ma in varying kinematic regimes, by combining zircon Lu-Hf isotopic data from Early Palaeozoic to Early Jurassic igneous and metaigneous rocks in the Mérida Andes, Venezuela and the Santander Massif, Colombia, with new whole rock Rb/Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic data, and quartz O isotopic data. These new data are unique in South America because they were obtained from discrete magmatic and metamorphic zircon populations, providing a high temporal res- olution dataset, and compare several isotopic systems on the same samples. Collectively, these data provide valu- able insight into the evolution of the isotopic structure of the continental crust in long-lived active margins. Phanerozoic active margin-related granitoids in the Mérida Andes and the Santander Massif yield zircon Lu-Hf model ages ranging between 0.77 Ga and 1.57 Ga which clearly define temporal trends that can be correlated with changes in tectonic regimes. The oldest Lu-Hf model ages of N1.3 Ga are restricted to granitoids which formed during Barrovian metamorphism and crustal thickening between ~499 Ma and ~473 Ma. These granitoids yield high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios, suggesting that evolved, Rb-rich middle to upper crust was the major source of melt. Granitoids and rhyolites which crystallised during subsequent extension between ~472 Ma and ~452 Ma yield younger Lu-Hf model ages of 0.80 Ga–1.3 Ga and low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios, suggesting that they were de- rived from much more juvenile, Rb-poor sources such as mafic lower crust and mantle-derived melts. The rapid change in magmatic sources at ~472 Ma can be attributed either to reduced crustal assimilation during extension, or a short pulse of crustal growth by addition of juvenile material to the continental crust. Between ~472 Ma and ~196 Ma Lu-Hf model ages remain mostly constant between ~1.0 and ~1.2 Ga. The large scatter and the absence of definite trends in initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios suggest that both mafic, Rb-poor, and evolved Rb-rich sources were im- portant precursors of active margin magmas in Colombia and Venezuela throughout the Palaeozoic to the Early Jurassic. Previous studies have shown that the genesis of arc magmas may be stimulated by heat advection to the crust during the underplating of mantle derived melt, but the absence of permanent younging trends in Lu-Hf model ages from ~472 Ma to ~196 Ma suggests that very little new crust was generated during this period in the studied region. An overwhelming majority of the analysed igneous rocks yield zircon Lu-Hf model ages of N1 Ga which may be accounted for by documented local crustal end members of 1 Ga–1.6 Ga, and do not require contributions from the depleted mantle. Therefore, recycling of ~1 Ga and older crust was a dominant process in the north-western corner of Gondwana between ~472 Ma and ~196 Ma. This study shows that whole rock Sm-Nd and zircon Lu-Hf data can be interpreted similarly regarding the age of the source regions, whereas Rb-Sr and O isotope data from the same rocks yield valuable information regarding the geochemical nature of the source

Diagnostic Overlap between Fanconi Anemia and the Cohesinopathies: Roberts Syndrome and Warsaw Breakage Syndrome

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a recessively inherited disease characterized by multiple symptoms including growth retardation, skeletal abnormalities, and bone marrow failure. The FA diagnosis is complicated due to the fact that the clinical manifestations are both diverse and variable. A chromosomal breakage test using a DNA cross-linking agent, in which cells from an FA patient typically exhibit an extraordinarily sensitive response, has been considered the gold standard for the ultimate diagnosis of FA. In the majority of FA patients the test results are unambiguous, although in some cases the presence of hematopoietic mosaicism may complicate interpretation of the data. However, some diagnostic overlap with other syndromes has previously been noted in cases with Nijmegen breakage syndrome. Here we present results showing that misdiagnosis may also occur with patients suffering from two of the three currently known cohesinopathies, that is, Roberts syndrome (RBS) and Warsaw breakage syndrome (WABS). This complication may be avoided by scoring metaphase chromosomes—in addition to chromosomal breakage—for spontaneously occurring premature centromere division, which is characteristic for RBS and WABS, but not for FA

The brittle evolution of Western Norway – A space-time model based on fault mineralizations, K–Ar fault gouge dating and paleostress analysis

Basement fracture and fault patterns on passive continental margins control the onshore landscape and offshore distribution of sediment packages and fluid pathways. In this study, we decipher the spatial-temporal evolution of brittle faults and fractures in the northern section of the passive margin of Western Norway by combining field observations of fault mineralizations and K–Ar fault gouge dating with different paleostress approaches, resulting in the following model: (1) High-T fault mineralizations indicate Silurian NW-SE compression followed by NW-SE extension in the Early to Mid-Devonian. (2) Epidote, chlorite and quartz fault mineralizations indicate a dominant strike-slip stress field in the Late Devonian to early Carboniferous. (3) E-W extensional stress fields which could be related to Permo-Triassic or Late Jurassic rifting are not prominent in our data set. (4) K–Ar fault gouge ages indicate two extensive faulting events under a WNW-ESE transtensional stress regime with related precipitation of zeolite and calcite in the mid (123-115 Ma) and late (86-77 Ma) Cretaceous. Our results show that the brittle architecture of the study area is dominated by reactivation of ductile precursors and newly formed strike-slip faults, which is different from the dip-slip dominated brittle architecture of the southern section of the West Norway margin.publishedVersio

Structural characterization and K–Ar illite dating of reactivated, complex and heterogeneous fault zones: lessons from the Zuccale Fault, Northern Apennines

We studied the Zuccale Fault (ZF) on Elba, part of the Northern Apennines, to unravel the complex deformation history that is responsible for the remarkable architectural complexity of the fault. The ZF is characterized by a patchwork of at least six distinct, now tightly juxtaposed brittle structural facies (BSF), i.e. volumes of deformed rock characterized by a given fault rock type, texture, colour, composition, and age of formation. ZF fault rocks vary from massive cataclasite to foliated ultracataclasite, from clay-rich gouge to highly sheared talc phyllonite. Understanding the current spatial juxtaposition of these BSFs requires tight constraints on their age of formation during the ZF lifespan to integrate current fault geometries and characteristics over the time dimension of faulting. We present new K–Ar gouge dates obtained from three samples from two different BSFs. Two top-to-the-east foliated gouge and talc phyllonite samples document faulting in the Aquitanian (ca. 22 Ma), constraining east-vergent shearing along the ZF already in the earliest Miocene. A third sample constrains later faulting along the exclusively brittle, flat-lying principal slip surface t

Architecture and permeability structure of the Sibillini Mts. Thrust and influence upon recent, extension-related seismicity in the central Apennines (Italy) through fault-valve behavior

The central Apennines are a fold-thrust belt currently affected by post-orogenic ex-tensional seismicity. To constrain the influ-ence that the inherited thrust-related struc-tures exert on the present seismic behavior of the belt, we provide the high-resolution structural and hydraulic characterization of one of the most external exposed thrust fault systems of the central Apennines, the Sibil-lini Mts. Thrust Front (STF). We integrate structural mapping, multiscale structural analysis, and in situ air permeability on the brittle structural facies of the thrust zone. We also performed K-Ar dating of selected fault rocks to better constrain structural in-heritance. The STF is defined by a complex, similar to 300-m-thick deformation zone involving Meso-Cenozoic marl and limestone that re-sults from the accommodation of both seis-mic and aseismic slip during shortening. Permeability measurements indicate that the low permeability (10-2 divided by 10-3 D) of the marly rich host rock diminishes within the thrust zone, where the principal slip surfaces and associated S-C structures represent efficient hydraulic barriers (permeability down to similar to 3 x 10-10 D) to sub-vertical fluid flow. Field data and K-Ar dating indicate that the STF began its evolution ca. 7 Ma (early Messin-ian). We suggest that the studied thrust zone may represent a barrier for the upward migration of deep fluids at the hypocentral depth of present-day extensional earth-quakes. We also speculate on the influence that similar deformation zones may have at depth on the overall regional seismotectonic pattern by causing transient fluid overpres-sures and, possibly, triggering cyclic exten-sional earthquakes on normal faults prone to slip while crosscutting the earlier thrust zones (as per a classic fault valve behavior). This mechanism may have controlled the ori-gin of the 2016-2017 central Apennines dev-astating earthquakes